Mute
by BluePeanutbutter21
Summary: Tried and convicted of murder, Gaara is sent to Oni Konoha, a military style school that houses delinquents and juvenile psychopaths. There, he meets Neji Hyuga, who makes it his life goal to make Gaara talk again. NejixGaara, SasukexNaruto, and other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a yaoi fic, and is rated M for a reason. Pairings will be NejixGaara, SasukexNaruto, ShinoxKiba, and maybe others**

**Warnings: Characters may seem slightly OOC because some of them have mental disorders, and I'm trying to fit their personality around some of the symptoms.**

**THIS DOES HAVE A PLOT, AND IS NOT JUST MINDLESS SMUT**

**Anyways, on to the story.**

**Disclaimer (most sadly)**

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Dr. Sakura Haruno leaned back in her chair, and briefly scanned the folder of documents before her. Every so often, her brow would wrinkle, and a soft 'hmmm' sound would issue from her pursed lips. She crossed her legs, shifted in the uncomfortable, steel chair, and raised her eyes to the silent patient sitting across from her.

"So." Her bright voice rang out loudly in the small cell. She straightened up, lightly placed the folder and shuffled pages in front of her, and smiled sweetly at the young teen in front of her.

"You've been here for quite some time, Gaara. I find it most interesting that your files are still, somewhat incomplete, as compared to other patients here." She leaned forwards, and tapped the top of the first page in the stack of documents in front of her.

"Your bio is lacking a lot of information. Last name. Hobbies. Childhood details. It's very vague." Dr. Haruno laced her fingers and placed her chin on top, setting her elbows onto the table.

"Would you care to specify any of this?" She slid the sheet across the table to Gaara. He turned his gaze from the ceiling down to the table, before flicking his eyes back up to the bright lights. Dr. Haruno scooted forwards in her chair.

"I do understand that it must be very boring being in this room for a long time, but I'm sure you know how rude it is to ignore someone when they're talking to you." She said, attempting to make eye contact with the patient. When she received no response, she sighed, and sat back in her seat, taking the sheet of paper back with her. Her smiley, nurse-like demeanor fell away, and she lapsed into a more comfortable, friendly stance.

"Enough with the games, Gaara. We've been over this, so I see no need to follow protocol, seeing as we speak on a day to day basis. If you want to get better, you need to talk to me. If you could just…oh, I don't know. Your family has decided to stop paying for your treatment unless you start getting better. When your account runs out, we can't care for you anymore. If you could just _look _at me for once, I'd have called it progress, and your funds would be restored." She said, rubbing a hand over her eyes.

"It's been two years, Gaara. You're almost a legal adult. Don't you want a life to live? Friends? A girlfriend? Right now, evidence is against you. So far, the judge has technically charged you as guilty. But if you could just speak—if you could just explain what happened—you could be free." Dr. Haruno reached across the table and grasped one of Gaara's hands. They were small and slender and bony, even smaller than Dr. Haruno's hands. She ignored the icy, cold temperature of the lifeless limb.

"Gaara. I know that you're innocent. You just need to tell me what I need, and you could be out of here. You wouldn't have to deal with staying in this cell, you wouldn't have to deal with people always judging you. Please, Gaara. When your funding runs out, we don't have any obligation to try and help you. You're too dangerous to send to stay with family, but the charges against you, though highly likely, have not been successfully proven yet. You do know what that means, right?" Dr. Haruno kneaded her hands together, and looked seriously at the silent youth.

"We'll have to send you to Oni Konoha."

* * *

Oni Konoha is a military academy for dangerous youths. They take teens with bad reputations and shady pasts, and enroll them in a strict regime. Most students are labeled as mentally insane, and have usually been accused of murder, drugs, arson, or attempted killing. Oni Konoha is essentially a boarding school, but also includes fighting classes, multiple guards, prison cells, and group therapy. To keep students from escaping back into the outside world, the school was built on an island, and surrounded by a dense forest, cut in half by a rushing river, and surrounded by a manmade wall on the very perimeter of the island. The only way into and out of the island is by plane, and students are dropped off by lowering them from the plane into the caged area.

The teachers were Jonin or ANBU ranked officers from the five nation squads. The squads were known as the Fire Nation, the Water Nation, the Earth Nation, the Lightning Nation, and the Wind Nation, each representing one element. Each squad was run by the most powerful of those in the ranks, known as the Kage, and was assembled into four groups, Genin, the new recruits, Chunin, the middle of the pack, Jonin, the high ranking officers, and ANBU, the elite of the squad. Each group was designed to take on specific missions, each ranked by difficulty.

D-rank missions were easy tasks, assigned to brand new genin and involved some combat, such as guarding people, doing background investigations, or suppressing a small gang. C-rank missions were assigned to more experienced genin or chunin, and involved doing more dangerous missions of spying, going undercover for longer times, and retrieving certain objects from gangs. B-rank missions were assigned to experience chunin and involved eliminating medium level threats to the government, forming diplomatic relations between squads, and aiding in missions that have been failed by lower ranks. A-rank missions were assigned to jonin, and were usually based on state level matters, like guarding VIPs, or suppressing outside forces, and espionage. The last rank, S-rank, was assigned to experienced jonin and concerned confidential matters, such as transporting highly classified documents, or assassinating VIPs. Particularly powerful 'nins,' the name for all agents in the five nation squads, gained fame for their skill, and their name became well known.

The ANBU, on the other hand, were nameless, and without rank in their group within the squads. They wore kabuki styled masks of an animal that was similar, or special to each person. They did espionage, and protected the government from high level threats, as well as special assassinations, and cleanups. They usually worked through secrecy, but took no missions. They worked only on their Kage's orders. Some squads had slight variations of ANBU groups, such as having hunter-nins, a group of ANBU agents designed to hunt down and catch any deserters of the squads. These deserters were called missing nin, who, depending on their former group and ranked missions completed, were labeled by rank, S-rank being more dangerous, and A-rank being less dangerous.

Oni Konoha was run by one of the five nation squads, the Fire Nation. Lady Tsunade, was the Kage of the Fire Nation, and was titled as the Hokage. She was one of the three legendary sannin, three powerful prodigies that rose in the ranks of the Fire Nation squad. One turned to the dark and became a missing nin. The other left to travel and publish his books. Tsunade was a renowned medic, capable of healing almost everything. She had surprising strength, despite her age, and was highly temperamental. She also had a reputation of drinking and gambling all her money away.

Despite this, Tsunade was a fearsome opponent, and many did not like facing her. She was the principal of Oni Konoha, and employed the nins in her squad as teachers and guards. The Fire Nation was particularly powerful compared to the other nation squads. Rumor had it that most all recruited nins were usually from the students at Oni Konoha, who had gained mental control over themselves, but still retained their great skill in fighting and thinking unpredictably. Of course, there was also another rumor that claimed that all five nation squads received recruits from Oni Konoha, and other similar schools.

Even so, these rumors remain unproven, and therefore remain a mystery to the public. This fostered a large reputation for the school, and many people believed Oni Konoha to be a stereotypical, lonesome castle on the top of a hill type of deal. There were rumors that ranged from claims that everyone that went in came out dead, to the insistence that they all turned into flesh eating beasts at night. Some of the rumors were ridiculous, and highly unbelievable, but some could be true, which was why Dr. Haruno wanted to keep Gaara out of the school.

She knew that there was evidence of blood on his hands. She knew from reports that the police had to rip the bloodied phone from his stained hands. She knew that of the entire gang of 47 people that once resided in the house, none survived. She also knew that Gaara had been the one to call the police. But what she didn't know was why all this had happened. The police knew that Gaara had been the murderer. That was all they needed to know before they wanted to toss him to the sharks, but Dr. Haruno knew that something wasn't right.

Gaara was the victim in this case. All she needed to do was get him to speak, and then she'd have her answers. But he refused. He didn't respond; nurses had to shower and clothe him. He didn't sleep; in the beginning, the guards had to come running into his cell and wake him up from his strangling nightmares and screams. He didn't eat; they had to pump the food into his stomach whenever he got too weak to even protest.

'He's mental, that's all.' Her superiors told her. 'People like him don't get better. Can't you see that look in his eyes? Like he's funny in the head.' But Dr. Haruno didn't see that. When she looked into Gaara's eyes, all she saw was the tears and sadness and pain, and the naïve, begging eyes of a young boy.

'Just look at him.' Her friend, and fellow nurse, Ino, said. 'He looks like a killer.'

And indeed he did.

Deep, crimson colored hair that curled around his neck, and hung in a fringe just below his eyebrows. He hadn't had his haircut in some time, so it was much longer and shaggier than he seemed to wear it. The long locks covered the tattoo on the left side of his forehead. There was no information on the scar, only the fact that it had appeared when Gaara was six years old. It was the Japanese kanji for love. Gaara didn't seem to like it when she focused on his tattoo, so his hair became a welcomed barrier between the mark, and other's eyes. They still stared at him, though, because of his eyes, which were large and a luminous aquamarine, with no pupil, slightly slanted like that of a cat. When she first saw him, she felt trapped, pinned by his empty, blind eyes.

After he became an insomniac, dark black rings surrounded his eyes, further emphasizing the color, and making a striking contrast against his pale, translucent skin. Even though he had been born in Suna, a city in the middle of a desert, he didn't even have a tan. Dr. Haruno would have thought him to be attractive, in a punkish, exotic kind of way. He was striking, and dark, and mysterious, but he was also labeled for murder, so she kept her distance.

It wouldn't do for her to fall in love with him, like in all the cliché romance novels she secretly hoarded. She remembered vividly when Dr. Mitsuo stormed into the coffee room.

'That boy is absolutely horrible.' She had confided in those near her. Taking a sip of her coffee, she had tossed her head. 'I'm going to the head doctor to ask to be reassigned.' Dr. Haruno remembered feeling rather shocked at Dr. Mitsuo's temperamental attitude towards her patient. When all the patients came into the lunch room to eat, she remembered watching that pale, mysterious looking boy, sitting quietly in the corner of the room.

He was puzzling. Confusing. A mystery. And if there was anything that Sakura Haruno liked more, it was solving mysteries. Three months later, she had been assigned to his case. 'This boy,' Her supervisor said, 'Has a low success rate. All four nurses assigned to him have given up.' She had shrugged then. 'It doesn't matter.' She had said. 'I want him as my patient.' Ino had cut her a good one when she told her. But Sakura knew that the dark boy she had watched was a mystery waiting to be solved. Dr. Sakura Haruno was the best at what she did. She had the most successful recoveries, and was absolutely brilliant and patient. She was sweet, but feisty, and had an iron will that refused to back down. She had never lost a patient before, and she wasn't going to start then.

She didn't know when she had gotten attached to him. When she saw him as more than a puzzle. More than a patient. He didn't speak, he barely even moved. But somehow, as the months and years passed by, he became something to her. She had his files memorized by now. She could read the little emotion on his face. She knew all his little quirks like the back of her hand. She could even hold a conversation with him, even though he didn't talk. Ino had once told her that she looked psycho whenever she talked to him.

'It's, like, you say something, and he doesn't respond… but you just keep on talking as if he did!' Ino had exclaimed at one point. 'You aren't yourself anymore,' Ino had commented suspiciously afterwards. 'It's like that boy's changed you.' Sakura had immediately denied it. 'Don't try that bullshit with me, Forehead.' Ino had said angrily. 'You spend almost all your working hours with him, just talking with him, and observing him. You're obsessed with him!' And Sakura had realized that Ino was right. She wasn't in love with him. She was simply so interested—so intrigued— that she was obsessed with figuring him out.

She knew so much about him, but she also knew so little. He liked spicy food. Music was his one passion. He was Haphephobic, and diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder (displaying inhibited behavior), dissociative identity disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. He didn't like reminiscing about his childhood. He didn't like it when Sakura was sick, and a different doctor was called in as a substitute in her stead. He worked in a loop of five weeks. He warmed up to her, became more open, less guarded, but by the end of the five weeks, he was distant and untrusting of her. She had managed to salvage a few details during his moments of trust, and compared to everyone else in the ward, she knew ten times more about him than anyone else. She could even list off what he did on a day to day basis, including the music he would listen to, the time he woke up and went to sleep, and how he would react with others. But when she really thought about it, she didn't really know Gaara. And even after these three years, he intrigued her just as much as when she had first seen him.

Three years of reading his body language, of prodding him with questions, of registering his emotions, of recording every little thing he ever did in his stay at this ward. And nothing. He wouldn't talk. He was unpredictable. He wasn't moody or violent, and his behavior was consistent in the fact that he didn't seem to get better or worse, but he was predictable in the fact that he was unpredictable. One day, he would eat his breakfast with no complaint, and the next day, attempt to bathe the walls with bowls of oatmeal. This unpredictable behavior; this volatile personality was regular behavior; normal behavior for him. Predictable.

He wouldn't take his meds, and seemed to always know when his food or drinks were drugged with them. He was usually calm, collected, and detached, but had broken down more than once when he was forced to take sleeping pills. His nightmares frightened him. He wasn't mute, but refused to speak. He was an exceptional artist, and was always calmer when listening to his music. He liked being alone. Of everyone in the entire ward, only Dr. Haruno could get away with holding his hand. If anyone else got within three feet of him, he would begin to hyperventilate.

He refused to trust anyone that complimented his father. His older brother and sister were probably the closest Gaara ever had for friends or companions. A week before they visited, he would always become more quiet and pensive, mellower. It was as if he knew when they were going to visit. Their reunions were always a sight to see. He was contained, locked away behind his stoic demeanor. His siblings were eccentric, but kind and loving, and dynamic. It was obvious how much they cared for each other. Even so, when Dr. Haruno had tried to speak with his siblings, they refused pointblank to tell her any information on Gaara's past and childhood.

'You're sweet,' Temari, Gaara's older sister, had said, 'and I know that you're just trying to help Gaara, but there are some things that you shouldn't delve into.' They were all hiding something. They were hiding a big secret that only the three of them knew, and Dr. Haruno was sure that this secret was the answer to everything. But no matter how much she pinched and prodded and demanded answers, she received none. She was getting nowhere at all, and she was not happy about it. The siblings had stopped coming a little over a year years ago. Gaara hadn't been surprised when they didn't even show up for his birthday. She wondered why.

Looking at the uninterested boy in front of her, Dr. Haruno sighed. She stood up, taking his worn folder from the desk.

"We're ending early today, Gaara." She said quietly. Gaara tilted his head towards her, and blinked his eyes.

"You aren't very open today. There's no point in continuing; you're far too stubborn for your own good." Sakura answered the question in his eyes. He blinked, before standing up, and walking carefully around the table, to the door. She kept her distance, knowing that even if he trusted her enough to touch him, he still disliked it, and feared it.

"It's almost time for lunch. If Akihiro is outside, he'll probably walk you down there. Or you could go to your room." She said, pushing her chair in. Gaara turned and walked out the door. Sakura waited a few minutes for him to leave, and then leaned against the wall. She hadn't had much sleep last night, because Ino had just gotten dumped by her boyfriend of the month, so she was exhausted.

Scrubbing her eyes, she yawned, and stretched. It felt nice to relax, even if it was for only a minute, after all the hectic business happening. Nine nurses were either on sick leave, or vacation, so the ward was running low on workers. Still, Sakura knew that she still had about half an hour to eat lunch, and rest. Wearily, she got to her feet, and left the room, heading towards the lunch room. Gaara had probably gone to his room, so she would have to get him some fruit or a drink to make sure that he didn't starve through the night.

Rubbing the crick in her neck, Sakura arrived at the lunch room. Some of the staff, and a few patients, were already inside, getting their lunch trays and food. Sakura headed towards the fruit table, and picked up two apples, before getting a cup of hot coffee. As she stirred in the milk and sugar, to mask the disgustingly cheap taste of the coffee, she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around, expecting Ino, or some other nurse waiting in line for the coffee, she instead came face to face with her boss.

"Dr. Kobayashi!" She gasped, almost spilling her full cup of coffee. Her boss chuckled.

"Easy there, Dr. Haruno. I just wanted a word with you." He said calmly, taking the scorching cup of coffee from her shaking hands. Sakura laughed nervously, and tried to calm her frayed nerves.

"Sorry, Dr. Kobayashi. Long night." She explained sheepishly with a small yawn. He smiled indulgently.

"Ah, we all have those days. Would you mind just stepping out for a bit?" He asked.

"Sure thing." She said, retrieving her coffee, and taking a long drink. It tasted overly sweet, but that was much better than the bitter, chemical like taste of the actual coffee. Following her boss out of the doors, she wondered what he wanted to talk to her about. Once they were in a more secluded area, Dr. Kobayashi turned around.

"Dr. Haruno." He said seriously, taking her by the shoulders. "I understand that you are in charge of a patient by the name of Gaara." She nodded. He sighed.

"His funds have started to run out. Unless you have any evidence of progress on his behavior, we have to use the rest of his funds to send him to Oni Konoha." Sakura blinked, shocked.

"W-What? But his account was supposed to last for at least another month or so!" She exclaimed in a hushed whisper. Dr. Kobayashi's face was grave.

"I understand that, but there was a slight miscalculation in his expenses. We expected him to get better, which would allow for less medication, which would in turn be less expensive. But he hasn't progressed thus far. He's been here for three years, and he hasn't even started to heal yet." He let go of her shoulders, ran a hand through his hair, and sighed heavily.

"Haruno, I understand that you're one of my best workers. If you can't help Gaara, I'm afraid that no one can. We have to send him to Oni Konoha by the end of this week. The sooner the better." He said. Sakura shook her head.

"But… but he's just an innocent boy!" She cried, grip tightening on the half empty cup of coffee. Her boss narrowed his eyes at her.

"Listen, Haruno. That boy murdered 47 people. He isn't innocent, and even if you think that there was another play, you have no proof of it. If you even think about defending that boy in public, your reputation will fall. You're a smart, intelligent young woman, Haruno, and you should realize that this boy isn't just someone who's weak and sick, and vulnerable. I understand your fears about Oni Konoha, but we have already sent word that he will be arriving soon. The government has approved, and all the paperwork is completed." She must have looked pathetic, because he ran a hand over his face and sighed, again.

"If you're so worried, you can travel with him to make sure that he arrives safely, but that's all I can offer. If you want to take me up on that, come to my office before 5:00 tonight so that I can get you a ticket. I'm sorry, Dr. Haruno, but you alone can't do anything to help that boy. The only reason I told you was because I felt that you needed to know. Don't make me regret my actions." He turned and walked away.

"Have a nice day." He called over his shoulder. Sakura stared at his back, feeling small, and insignificant, and alone.

* * *

"Well, Forehead?" Sakura glared morosely at her childhood friend from behind her desk.

"Hush, Ino-pig. I'm trying to finish my paper work." The blond made a face at her.

"But it's almost 5:00! Don't you want to get a ticket so that you can travel with your precious little patient?" She asked impatiently, tapping her purple nails against the edge of Sakura's desk. Sakura sighed.

"His name is Gaara, Ino. And even if he is leaving tomorrow, I don't think he would like it if I traveled with him. He likes being alone." She explained. Ino sighed.

"Ugh, who cares? You're never going to see him again! Just go and get the ticket, and then we can see if you want to go tomorrow." She said. Sakura frowned.

"But—"

"No 'buts,' Billboard Brow. Now get down there! It's already 4:56!" Shoved outside her office, Sakura heard the click of the lock.

"Goddamnit, Ino." She hissed at the door. Scowling, she turned towards her boss's office, and headed there with heavy steps.

* * *

**End of the first chapter.**

**My goodness that took forever. I hope that you get the basic gist of the story right now. I know that you all are probably wondering why Ino and Sakura aren't part of the Fire Nation squad, but all will be explained in later chapters :)**

**Reviews make me happy, and allow me to edit myself. If you find that any of the disorders don't seem to fit Gaara, or if you find other disorders that might fit him, or other Naruto characters, please inform me. I'd be happy in include your input.**

**Questions are welcome as well.**

**Reactive Attachment Disorder: this is a condition where infants or young children don't develop good bonds with parents or others, AKA they were typically neglected, abused, or orphaned, or were unable to form bonds due to instability, AKA they were bounced around from one foster home to the next, which doesn't allow them to form strong bonds for long periods of time. Their basic need for love isn't fulfilled, so their brain can be damaged, resulting in the inability to establish relationships later on in life, hence why Gaara is so antisocial, and unwilling to talk or socialize. Inhibited behavior means that the person does not wish to make contact with others, and is emotionally withdrawn. Uninhibited behavior means that the person is very needy and wants attention**

**Dissociative identity disorder: this is more commonly known as multiple personality disorder. Symptoms include extensive memory loss, insomnia, night terrors, mood swings, eating disorders, anxiety, panic attacks, or flashbacks, AKA triggers or stimuli that cause the person to react badly, etc. This disorder is a fragmentation of identities. Usually, people have one identity, which is composed of all the aspects of identity, memory and consciousness, but with this disorder, the identity is split or fragmented, resulting in two or more different identities. Characteristics of the altars, the other personalities, differ greatly from the dominant personality, and may include different name, age, gender, knowledge, vocabulary, mood, and physical body functions, AKA allergies, eyesight, or even whether or not the person is right or left handed.**

**Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: This is a condition that is caused by a terrifying event. Flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, and uncontrollable fear or fixation on this event are all symptoms of this disorder. **

**Haphephobia: The fear of other people touching you**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back, everyone**

**Thanks to all who have reviewed, favorited, and followed my story! Your compliments meant a lot to me, and the fact that you even reviewed meant a lot as well.**

**TiarAstrid: Happy New Year to you too! ****_Neji will probably appear in the next chapter, because I was lazy. _**

**Disclaimer**

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FILES OF PATIENT #112, GAARA

Dr. Chiyo, Medical Nurse and Psychiatrist.

January 19, 1998: born premature do to stress in relationship between mother and father. The baby is very quiet and still, which would be because of his early birth, though it's highly unlikely. He sleeps little, and seems most active at night

January 26, 1998: Gaara still does not make many noises, and remains awake most nights. He seems very alert and aware of his surroundings; he will always react whenever his name is called. Otherwise, he remains still and quiet

February 2, 1998: Gaara does not speak. He has become more withdrawn and detached from the world. If he did not blink every so often, one would think that he was dead.

February 9, 1998: Gaara has begun to cry at night. There is no calming him. In the morning, however, he remains as quiet and pensive as always. He has trouble breathing, probably due to his premature birth, and weak body. He has yet to get better despite the vital nutrients given to him. He seems the same as form birth.

February 16, 1998: His father took him home yesterday, against the wish of the hospital. There is no news on Gaara. I am no longer entitled to caring for the baby.

~o~

May 21, 2004: Gaara's father has demanded tests on him. He says that Gaara is mentally disabled. Test results come in next week. When I spoke to him, Gaara seemed normal. He is still small and weak for someone his age, but he is surprisingly smart, though there are some lags. He does not truly understand certain concepts, and is very quiet and nervous whenever we talk. He seems sleep deprived, and does not eat much. He refuses to speak of this, however, and his father and siblings are tight lipped as well.

May 28, 2004: The tests have come back. Inconclusive. There are no signs of any mental activity different from that of normal children. When asked to explain how Gaara acted, his father told us that he had a 'voice' in his head. This is probably a side effect of loss of sleep, and bad eating habits, as well as stress. When asked about the voice in his head, Gaara claimed to have bad dreams, but refused to talk further. We will be taking new tests on him.

June 4, 2004: The tests results are odd. There have been no recorded evidence of anyone with his results. I will be searching the Suna archive to see if anyone has had this type of reaction. Gaara has not changed, but talks more. He speaks of his uncle, Yashamaru, but will often drop his sentence and lapse into silence. From what I've seen, Yashamaru is a good influence on Gaara.

June 11, 2004: It's unbelievable. Gaara's father was right. After much time in the archives, I came across some files of someone from a long time ago with similar results to Gaara's tests. There have only been a handful of people in history to have these results. It is a very rare disease known as the Tailed-Beast disorder, or TB for short. This disease is a very rare variation of Dissociative identity disorder. When the fetus is forming, a certain biological reaction will occur. This reaction will later on spur the fragmentation of the child's identity. However, this fragmentation is odd in that every time it occurs, the altar formed will have the characteristics of one of the Tailed Beasts. The Tailed Beasts are what scientists have called the 9 entities that have reformed over and over and over again in people. The victims have even recalled past memories that do not belong to them, but to previous victims of the Tailed Beast. It is as if there are actual spirits that can inhabit a person's body until their death, and then jump to another one sometime later. Interestingly, certain Tailed Beasts manifest themselves in certain areas. In Suna, the Shukaku, the One Tails, is the most common to pop up. The name, Tailed Beast, was formed because the identity of a Tailed Beast was that of a bloodthirsty demon, a beast. The 'Tails' just became a way to record when the beast first cropped up. The One Tails appeared first, followed by the Two Tails, then the Three Tails, and so on until the Nine Tails. There have been no recordings of a Ten Tails. When the altars of the Tailed Beast take control, they gave themselves their own names. The One Tail's name was Shukaku. Gaara has not shown any signs of insanity, or violence, which is common in those with this certain disorder, but the results of his test, and the 'voice' in his head is clear proof that he is the holder of the One Tails. Eventually, he will succumb to the voice in his mind, and the altar of the One Tails will take over and destroy everything.

June 18, 2004: Gaara's father has not taken the news well. Gaara has been even more quiet and timid when I see him. He is ostracized by the citizens of Suna, and his own family, except for Yashamaru. Gaara knows of the demon inside of him, and has tried to befriend others, but his attempts fail. He is beginning to show lapses in concentration, and moments of crazed violence, which only happen for a few seconds at a time. Even so, no one wishes to be near him. They all know what he is. Gaara's father has decided to train him in fighting and the secret art that his family line uses. He hopes to use Gaara as a weapon. This does not bode well for Suna.

June 25, 2004: Gaara has become increasingly thin and sickly. He says that he will not sleep, because he fears that the demon will come out, and he has locked himself in his own room for days on end to make sure that he will be weak enough to restrain if he loses his mind. His father encourages him. He is often covered with bruises and is very exhausted when I see him. He says that he is training to control the beast inside of him, but less than half of those who have Tailed Beast disorder have been able to meld with their demon, and keep it under control at all times. Some are born already in sync with their demon, and others must train for years to gain a semblance of control. How does Gaara's father expect a child to learn to contain something he does not fully understand?

May 2, 2004: Gaara's father is frustrated with the lack of progress in Gaara. He has rashly decided to test Gaara to see his volatility. Nothing will sway him. I have prepared to say goodbye to the young boy that will disappear.

May 9, 2004: Yashamaru is dead. Gaara is changed. The beast was unleashed.

~o~

Officer Baki:

December 13, 2010: Gaara was brought in for the murder of 47 people. He refused to speak throughout the questioning session, and has not made any movement to deny or support claims against him. The officer who answered his call says that he did not make the call, and voice analysis says that one of the victims had been the one to call. He probably allowed this person to call before brutally murdering all of them. The connections of the people to each other and him are unknown, though the fact that they were all in the same house, alone, seems suspicious. A thorough search of the area showed no evidence other than signs of the victims' blood and bodies. Gaara was found holding the phone used to call the police in one of the bedrooms. He did not move, and it took 30 minutes for police to take the phone and hand cuff him, because not let anybody near him. Eventually, a sedative was used before we could take the phone. His clothes and skin were covered with blood, particularly on his hands, and on his feet, though he did not have any scratch on him. The blood was fresh, so he had pulled off the crime just hours before the police arrived. There are no witnesses. What happened and why this happened is a mystery. But all evidence points towards Gaara murdering all 47 innocent people. However, Gaara appears to be in shock, so he is to be signed into a ward until he recovers enough to defend himself, or speak out if he is innocent.

Note: Gaara has been suspected of multiple murders in the previous few years, though no evidence has been shown to prove this. The Wind Squad has wiped these records of suspected foul play for unknown reasons.

~o~

MEDICAL WARD INFORMATION

Date admitted into Ward: January 21, 2011

Age of Patient at time of admittance: 13 years old

Name: Gaara

Gender: Male

Birth date: January 19, 1998

Family: Temari (Older sister: August 23, 1995), Kankuro (Older brother: May 15, 1996), Karura (Mother [deceased]), [CENSORED] (Father: March 29, 1971), Yashamaru (Uncle: May 23, 1987)

Home: Suna

Reason: possible shock and mental disorders. Held until patient is recovered enough to go to court and defend himself in trial. Suspected of murdering 47 innocent people.

END OF FILES

* * *

"Gaara?" At the sound of the voice, Gaara blinked his eyes, and turned around. Dr. Haruno offered him an apple and a bottle of water. He took the water.

Turning back to the window, he observed the ground as the helicopter neared landing. The ocean looked odd from so high up, especially since it was already night. Far off in the distance, he saw a small island that grew bigger as the plane neared. From behind him, a guard came up and began to converse with Dr. Haruno in hushed tones. He looked at them. Dr. Haruno smiled at him.

"We're going to exit the helicopter in a few minutes. They'll let us down into the area, and then we can do all your paper work and get you situated before I leave." She explained. He blinked once as a sign that he understood, and she stood up, walking over to the four guards who were sent to accompany them on the plane. He followed her. One of the guards, a man with long black spiky hair, and a strip of white cloth that ran across his face, over his nose, cheerfully waved them over to the door. In his hands, he had a harness and coil of rope.

"We'll be there in just a few seconds. We have to lower the 'copter so that it will be easier to get down from it." He said. One of the other guards called something, and the last two grabbed harnesses from the plane wall, hooked themselves up to the rope, and opened the door to the copter before sliding out. Once they were on the ground, the guard lifted up the rope, and motioned Gaara forwards.

"The patient goes first." He said. Dr. Haruno stepped back nervously. Gaara's lips twitched downwards ever so slightly. There was no way that the guard was getting anywhere near him. The guard hesitated a bit when he didn't step forward.

"Well?" He asked expectantly, shaking the harness in his hands. Dr. Haruno sighed wearily. Yanking the harness from the guard's hands, she handed it to Gaara, who glanced at her in thanks, and strapped himself in.

"He doesn't like it when people touch him or get near him." She explained to the confused guard. His face cleared.

"Ah. Sorry about that; Lady Tsunade didn't mention that when she sent us here." He said sheepishly. Gaara simply pierced him with one of his patented soul seeing stares, and hooked himself to the cable. The guard slid the door of the plane open.

"Just go slowly. Hold onto the rope so that the strain doesn't go to your back." He said in one of those voices that sound as if the person had said this multiple times in the past. Gaara grabbed his rope, and gently climbed outside, before letting go of the plane. The guard slowly lowered him down, while another guard handed Dr. Haruno another harness. Having watched Gaara put his harness on, Sakura copied his movements, and belted on the harness with ease. Hooking herself to the rope, she was lowered to the ground. The two guards followed quickly.

The guards all unhooked flash lights from their belt, and led Gaara and Dr. Haruno into the building. Dr. Haruno couldn't help but notice how normal the school looked. There was the forest and river and odd creepy scorch marks on the school grounds, of course, but as a whole, the building seemed like that of a normal school. As she entered the building, she observed the white plaster walls, and frayed carpet floors. The classrooms that they passed seemed like classrooms in normal schools. It was much different from what Dr. Haruno expected of the school.

She noticed that the group was coming to a stop in front of a large, oak door. One of the guards knocked on the door way, flicking the toothpick between his lips.

"Ms. Shizune, we've come with the new student." He called. There was a silence, before a young women's voice answered.

"Come on in. I'll go and wake up Lady Tsunade." Pushing open the door, the guard motioned for Sakura and Gaara to enter. Once inside, Sakura was treated to a nice, neat room with a fresh, brand new desk and stacks of paper work piled on top. There was a curious smell of sake and antiseptic inside, though the open window brought in a nice fresh breeze. A tall, slender woman with short black hair beamed at them.

"Hello. I'm Shizune. I'm guessing that you're Gaara, and that you're his doctor." She said warmly, scooping up a pink pig, which looked at them suspiciously from over Shizune's arm. Sakura blinked in surprise.

"This is TonTon. Lady Tsunade will be with you shortly." Shizune explained, before opening the door to an adjacent room, sticking her head inside, and calling, "Lady Tsunade, get out here!" A busty woman with blond pigtails stumbled out, holding her head in her hands. Seeing her, Sakura couldn't help but feel a little underwhelmed. All her life, she had wanted to become a doctor because of Lady Tsunade, who had been a great source of inspiration for Sakura, so it was only right that she imagined Lady Tsunade to be a great and powerful woman. Not a drunk lady who had to be woken up by her assistant.

Blinking blearily, the blond woman flopped down into the chair in front of the desk, and glared at Sakura and Gaara, with the air of one who had just been woken after a long day of partying and drinking.

"It's too late to deal with this." She grumbled, massaging her temple. "Shizune. Sake. Now." The dark haired women stiffened and opened her mouth as if to protest, but she then sighed and stalked off into the room that Tsunade had come out of. Looking over Gaara, Tsunade pursed her lips.

"So you're Gaara. It's nice to meet you. I've had all the teachers briefed on your file, and we've made special adjustments for your stay here due to your disorders. Shizune will fill you in on those." Shizune came out, holding a glass of liquid, which Tsunade gulped down eagerly. Shizune smiled at them.

"Because of your phobia, we've altered the uniform a bit for you. All students have a uniform, but each one is usually slightly different due to each student's disorder. Since we've never had someone with your fear, we figured that the more skin you have covered up, the less paranoid you'll be around people. We also figured that it would be easier to interact with others if there's a layer of fabric between you and them, so your uniform will be based on clothes that show as little skin as possible. We have gloves that have the very tips of the fingers cut off, so that you can pick things up easily, but whenever you're fighting, you can feel safer with the glove material over most of your hand. The rest of your clothes are basically long sleeve shirts and long pants in varying shades of black, gray, and white. The shoes that we allow here are actually any form of black boots, since fighting is an actual class, and you will have to be able to fight with your school uniform on. You already have a pair of black combat boots, so you'll be fine. We also have a lot of bandages if you want to cover up your neck, arms, or fingertips." Shizune listed off. Gaara raised his eyes from the floor and looked at her as a sign that he was listening.

"Alright. So, the school is like any other, pretty much. You take Math, History, English, Science, Art, and instead of Gym, you have Fighting. Instead of Language, you have group therapy, which is really where you can listen to other students and just make friends and learn about them." She continued.

"We decided to have you just get situated in your room for today, and then I will send someone to take you to your classes for tomorrow. Most rooms are doubles, but you will be staying in a single room do to your disorder and phobia. Izumo has just finished moving all your stuff to your room, so you can unpack. Classes start at 7:00 tomorrow, so be ready by 6:30 for your guide. It's already past lights out, so you can meet everyone tomorrow." Shizune said.

Gaara blinked. The door opened. A different guard, with dark bags under his eyes entered.

"We can take the student to his room now." He said in a dry voice. Lady Tsunade nodded brusquely, and Gaara and Sakura followed the guard. The entered a side building of dorm rooms, and entered a room near the top of the building. The guard unlocked the door, and opened it.

"Your key is on the desk." He explained.

"Dr. Haruno, if you would please come back to the helicopter, we'll fly you home." He said, motioning for her to step back as Gaara entered the room. The room was small, but clean, and there was a connected bathroom to the room. The bed, with Gaara's bags on top, was pressed up against the wall, right next to a window. Opposite of the bed was a desk and wardrobe and the door to the bathroom. There was also a glass door that led to a fire escape. The guard glanced at the clock.

"Since you have insomnia, we chose a room where there is a fire escape so that you can exit the building for fresh air. You are not allowed to roam the corridors or go beyond the open school ground. The best places that I would suggest would be the roof, or just out here on the fire escape balcony." The guard said, before breaking into a coughing fit. Clearing his throat, he stepped back. Dr. Haruno waved goodbye, and then shut the door, following the guard back to the helicopter.

Gaara glanced around the room. It was similar to his old room. His room back in Suna. He shook his head. Now was not the time to be going down the memory lane. Quickly, he opened the closet. Inside were a few shirts, pants, and jackets. His combat boots were already in the bottom corner of the wardrobe. It had been years since he had worn them; in the ward, he had to wear the white shirts and pants like all the other patients. Observing the shirts and pants, he noticed that some of the shirts were his old ones that fit the color regime. There were also three pairs of gloves in a shelf, as Shizune had said, and a roll of bandages beside them. In the bags that he had brought was his sketch books, sleep wear, toiletries, his head phones and iPhone, and a jar of sand from Suna.

He quickly put away his sleep wear, setting the toiletries into the bathroom, and tossing his sketch books on the desk. He placed his headphones on the desk as well, and put the jar of sand in the very top corner f his wardrobe, right next to the gloves and bandage roll.

Then, he opened the door to the fire escape, and climbed up onto the roof. The full moon shined lightly on him, and the headache that had been plaguing him since yesterday receded a little. Sighing, Gaara stared at the dark sky. A helicopter rose in the distance.

"Deidara Iwa." He whispered into the air. It was the first time that he had spoken since his capture.

_You will pay._

* * *

***sobs* I feel like I've let you all down. First, I thought that maybe I could do some flashbacks in Gaara's past, but then I got stuck, so I switched to the medical history of him. I don't think that I did too badly, but this is probably not what you guys want. **

**I WILL HAVE ACTION NEXT CHAPTER**

**For sure**

**Tailed Beast Disorder: Look, I couldn't think of anything else, ok? So this is just made up. If you want more information on it, just PM or review and say that you're confused, and I'll re-explain it in a way that you'll understand.**

**Hayate, Genma, Kotetsu, and Izumo are the four guards that escorted Sakura and Gaara. Hayate, Kotetsu, and Izumo had a slight cameo… ish.**

**Reviews motivate me and make me happy **

**Questions are awesome and help me edit myself**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again**

**Thanks to all who favorite and followed my story, and to all who reviewed. Below is the schedule for Gaara, and his teachers not only so that you guys can have a better understanding of the classes, but also so that I can reference this and not make any mistakes.**

**Breakfast (6:00-6:50)**

**English teacher: Kakashi (7:00-7:50)**

**Science teacher: Anko (8:00-8:50)**

**Fighting teacher: Gai (9:00-9:50)**

**Free Time: (10:00-11:30)**

**Lunch (11:30-12:50)**

**Math teacher: Asuma (1:00-1:50)**

**History Teacher: Yamato (2:00-2:50)**

**Art Teacher: Kurenai (3:00-3:50)**

**Group Therapist: Iruka (4:00-4:50)**

**Free Time: (5:00-6:00)**

**Dinner (6:00-8:00)**

**Free Time in the Dorm: (8:00-10:00)**

**Lights Out: (10:30)**

**Tell me if you think that this seems unrealistic, or if you have some ideas to tweak it (I am open to ideas on teachers, since I'm kind of running low on them… I mean, what is Iruka doing in the midst of all these Jonin instructers? XD**

**About the whole 'action' thing… there isn't much in this chapter, but there is less filler and more plot.**

**Anyways, on to the story.**

**Disclaimer**

* * *

The first thing Gaara noticed when he walked into the room was the annoyingly loud, blond boy standing on a desk in the center of the room. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit (wasn't the uniform supposed to be a white/black/gray color scheme?) and was flailing his arms wildly about jabbing a finger at a haughty looking boy with weird black hair. The boy crossed his arms, and glared back at the brightly colored teen.

The second thing Gaara noticed was the other boy in a hideous green jumpsuit (did anyone follow the dress code around here?) beaming happily, shouting with a deafening volume to his orange buddy on the desk. The guard who had escorted Gaara to his class, Genma, didn't even blink.

"Well. I guess I was right. Lady Tsunade really _did_ put you in the Rookie classroom." He observed. Glancing down at Gaara, he explained.

"We've had a sudden influx of students who are pretty dangerous. They were all excess students, so we just created another class for them. They're called the Rookie classroom since they're new. But, of course, the newest addition was integrated over a year ago, so they really aren't Rookies anymore. I think that you're in the same classes as one of the Rookies. I'm sure that your teacher will know." He said. Gaara watched as a brunette climbed up onto the desk with the blond, and pumped a fist in the air.

"As you can see, they aren't the most behaved class." Genma remarked, speaking around the toothpick between his lips. Gaara crossed his arms. He didn't know why, but for some reason the blond intrigued him. There was something about him that just pulled Gaara towards him. It was almost as if…

Feeling his gaze on him, the blond haired boy paused and turned to face him. As their eyes locked Gaara took a step back.

_Kurama._

Shukaku roused himself from the back of Gaara's mind.

**Oh? So the stupid fox is here too? Che. Just goes to show just how little these humans know about us demons.**

Gaara ignored Shukaku. It was something that he had learned to do at a very young age. The boy blinked his blue eyes, and for a moment, red flashed from behind his innocent glance. The class, realizing that the blond boy was distracted and looking intensely at something behind them, turned around. They began to whisper among themselves as they noticed Gaara and Genma, who looked between the blond and red head with a slightly interested look. It seemed that the Tailed Beast holders recognized each other.

The black haired boy (whose hairstyle was ridiculous, by the way) scowled when he realized that the blond wasn't listening to him, and the brunette beside the blond tugged on his orange sleeve, whispering something in his ear. The blond ignored them. Slowly, he slid off the desk and walked over to Gaara. Even as he neared, Gaara didn't feel that overwhelming fear that coated him whenever someone foreign came near him.

**It's because he isn't foreign.**

Shukaku sniped.

**He's Kurama, and as much as it sucks, I've known him for many lifetimes. He will be able to touch you without you feeling any fear.**

The Tailed Beast sounded disgusted.

**But don't let him get near you. That dirty fox will ruin you.**

The blond boy stopped in front of Gaara. As Shukaku had said, Gaara didn't feel the least bit scared when the blond gently pressed his fingers to the red kanji on his forehead. And suddenly, the world faded around them.

* * *

He blinked, and the world became a white room. The blond boy was the only one there. He smiled, and Gaara took note of the foxy whisker like scars on his cheeks.

"Kurama was right. I _can_ communicate with you through touch." A gruff snort sounded room behind the blond, and the wall behind him warped to reveal a giant red fox lounging on a slightly flooded stone floor. Silver bars blocked the fox from Gaara and the boy.

"Of course I was right, Gaki. Who do you think I am?" He opened his mouth, showing long white teeth. Someone sniffed from behind Gaara.

"No one needs you here, _fox_. Go away." Turning, Gaara caught sight of Shukaku, who was sitting in a floating giant metal cage, which hung from a chain from the ceiling. The fox snarled in answer. The blond boy made a face.

"Come on, Kurama, behave yourself. I just wanna talk to another Jinchuriki." He said. The fox snorted, but settled back and closed his eyes as if he was going to go to sleep. The boy turned back to Gaara.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the holder of the Nine Tails. And you are the holder of the One Tails." He said, extending a hand. Gaara hesitated. He had seen this gesture many times, but never had he actually shaken hands before. The blond shook his hand in front of Gaara's face.

"Well?" He asked. When Gaara didn't move, he rolled his eyes and grasped Gaara's hand. Gaara jumped, and tried to pull back his hand. Naruto's touch felt… odd. Naruto gently shook Gaara's hand before letting it drop.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" He asked happily. Gaara looked at him sharply. Naruto was strange. What kind of Jinchuriki was ever happy? The blond beamed and bounced up and down a bit.

"So, what's your name?" He asked. Gaara shrugged his shoulders. Shukaku snickered.

"Didn't you know, Gaki?" He asked gleefully. "Gaara is mute."

The blond frowned.

"Mute?" He asked. Gaara nodded slowly. He glanced around the room. It was obviously not something happening in the real world; it was a mentally constructed room. Which meant that he was psychically communicating with someone.

How was this possible, again?

As if sensing his question, the blond grinned.

"The Tailed Beasts are a lot more than just repetitive identities that pop up." He explained. "They have special abilities too. Kurama gives me a really fast healing rate, super speed, and super strength and some really cool stuff like that. But all the Tailed Beasts can communicate in this plane. I don't know why, but from what Kurama has told me, he is just really fast and strong and has a really good immune system, so I kind of got that from him being my altar."

Gaara blinked.

That explained a lot. He turned back to the Once Tails and tilted his head. It grunted at him.

"Don't look at me like that, Gaki. It's not me who gave you that power." He answered. Gaara frowned slightly. Naruto leaned forwards curiously.

"What power?" He asked eagerly. Shukaku laughed.

"Let's just say that he's practically untouchable." He said cryptically. The blond pouted at the answer, but sensed that this subject was best left alone. He gestured around the room.

"You can do this too; you just need to have contact with a Jinchuriki. Then, you need to want to communicate, but you can't come off too strong. It's all about balance. Like; the connection goes both ways. If one of us loses the want to communicate, the connection goes away. So the way to break the connection is to decide to leave." He explained. Gaara nodded, and closed his eyes. As an artist, he liked visualizing things, so he imagined opening the door to the room, and walking out of it, back into reality.

When he opened his eyes, he was met with Naruto's blue eyes. The blond removed his finger from his forehead, and smiled.

"Welcome." He said. Gaara nodded slightly. Glancing around, he realized that the connection with Naruto must have only been a few seconds here in the real world; no one was looking at them anxiously or worriedly. They were still confused and curious about him. Gaara looked at Genma. The man was looking down at him with narrowed eyes. Genma flicked his eyes between Naruto and Gaara, but didn't speak.

"Excuse me." Gaara turned to face the person who had spoken. It was a tall man with gravity defying silver hair. He had on a lower face mask, and a lopsided black strip of cloth, which hid his left eye from view. He had an orange book in his hands, like the ones that Kankuro always hid under his bed. The class erupted into more whispers, and Naruto waved merrily at the man.

"Hi, Kakashi-sensei! I was just saying hi to the new student." He chirped happily. Gaara blinked slowly, and stared at Kakashi. Genma raised an eyebrow.

"You're actually quite early today, Kakashi. Normally, you arrive halfway through the period." He said, amused. Kakashi tilted his head and smiled.

"Mah, I thought that I'd better be early some days so that Tsunade doesn't fire me." He said cheerfully, before looking down at Gaara.

"So you're Gaara." He mused, gray eye scanning Gaara thoroughly.

"You and Naruto will get along well, which is good, seeing as you two are in the same classes." He noted. Naruto grinned, and tossed and arm around Gaara. Kakashi froze. Genma stiffened. Gaara blinked.

"Believe it! We're gonna be the best of friends!" Naruto said. Kakashi relaxed at Gaara's lack of reaction, but continued to watch them warily, body tensed and ready to spring into action.

"Strange. I thought that I read on your file that you were Haphephobic." He said. Gaara shrugged. Naruto frowned.

"What does Haphephobic mean?" He asked. The dark haired boy that he had been arguing with snorted.

"It means that he doesn't like it when people touch him, _dobe_." Naruto stiffened, anger flashing in his eyes.

"Shut up, teme! I didn't ask _your _stupid ass, so don't stick your nose where no one wants it. Besides, Gaara doesn't mind it when _I_ touch him, so if I want to, I will."All too late, Naruto realized the double innuendo of his words and blushed. Gaara would have rolled his eyes if he had been capable of showing such emotion. Instead, he merely shrugged Naruto's arm off of him, and elbowed him in the gut, getting him to back off. It was still weird having someone so _near_ to him. Even if he didn't feel that _oh-kami-I'm-going-to-die-dread-blood-fear-get-it-away _thing that he usually did whenever other people so much as looked in his direction, Gaara was unused to human contact. If Naruto even poked him with his shoe, Gaara could feel tingles run along his skin, which was reasonable considering the fact that Gaara was probably sensitive to human touch, and therefore more alert whenever he was touched.

"Ittai!" Naruto wailed. Gaara ignored him. He turned to Genma and nodded slightly. The guard nodded back, and turned to Kakashi.

"I'm going to be going now; Gaara knows where to go. He can follow Naruto. I heard that some of the guards have set up a betting pool, so I'm going to so see what it's all about." He explained, before disappearing down the hallway. Kakashi sighed, and put away his orange book reluctantly.

"I suppose that I should welcome you, Gaara. I guessing that because of you and Naruto's … unique disorder, you are more comfortable around him. Therefore, Naruto will be your guide for the next few days. Just try and restrain him for me." He said. Gaara blinked. Turning back to the class, Kakashi scanned the rest of the students.

"Alright then. Everyone, get in your seats. Since today is a regular day of school, there really isn't much to say or do. Just know that this is English class, and that as of right now, you can do whatever you want as long as you keep relatively quiet and orderly." He said, before whipping out his book again. Whistling, he sauntered over to his seat, and sat down, eyes focused only on the pages before his eyes.

The brunette who had been standing with Naruto on the desks stepped forwards.

"Hey, Naruto, do you know this guy or something?" He asked. The other students leaned forwards eagerly. Naruto laughed.

"Sorry, Kiba, but you wouldn't understand it if I told you." He said. Kiba snorted.

"I never understand anything you say; it's either too idiotic, or too stupid." He answered. Naruto frowned.

"I'm not the one who thinks that idiotic and stupid have two different meanings, baaaaka." Kiba scowled as the students laughed.

"Whatever, Naruto. You know what I mean. Why is it that you act like you know this guy so well?" He demanded. A tall boy with dark glasses, and a jacket with a high collar that covered his mouth, stepped forwards as well.

"I agree with Kiba, Naruto. While you may be very friendly and open to others, you have never been this close right from the start." He stated quietly. The dark haired boy tossed his head.

"Leave it be, Shino. Dobe just wants to keep his little boytoy a secret." He scoffed. Naruto snarled, and grit his teeth.

"Wanna say that again, Teme?" He asked angrily, taking a step forwards, only to stop when Gaara stepped in front of him. Looking at his friend, Naruto saw Gaara shake his head ever so slightly from side to side. He frowned, but relented to Gaara's silent request.

"This isn't over, Teme." He warned the black haired boy over Gaara's shoulder, as he led Gaara to the back of the room. The students stayed where they were, sensing that the two did not want to be disturbed, but watched closely as the two began to talk to each other.

"Sorry, Gaara." Naruto said sheepishly. "I got carried away. Teme is always so mean, and I guess that you could say that we have a rivalry." He explained.

"He's a really big asshole, and he hangs out with a bunch of other stuck up assholes. There's Neji Hyuga, who thinks that he's better than everyone else, and there's Shino, who isn't really that much of an asshole, but he hangs out with them, so he's bad enough. They're really popular since they're super strong and dangerous. Teme, his name's Sasuke by the way, has anger management issues, and this inherited trait for being very hateful and depressed about the world. I think that Kakashi called it a curse of hatred, or something." Naruto paused and looked thoughtfully at Kakashi for a moment.

"Anyways, those three are super popular since the girls all think that they're hot, and they're really cool and dangerous and stuff. Sasuke is set on killing his older brother for revenge, and he doesn't really care about anyone else, so he's hurt a lot of people who got in his way. Thankfully, he hasn't killed anyone yet, but none of the schools would take him because he was really antisocial, and had bouts of madness and went crazy from sorrow sometimes. Neji tried to kill his cousin a few years back, but they're really close now. He's a super genius, and was suspected of setting up this elaborate shooting some years back. It had something to do with his uncle's business rivals and whatnot. A lot of important people from the rival company's staff died and were killed in the shooting, so they suspected his uncle, or someone from the family to have set up the shooting. The police still haven't found enough evidence to prove him guilty of anything, which just goes to show how smart that guy is. Shino was sent here because he likes bugs more than humans. He has a bunch of bug friends, and he can set them on people and stuff. He traumatized a lot of former classmates when he discovered them doing mean stuff to bugs by calling all these nasty bugs to swarm all over them and stuff. He didn't kill anybody; he just traumatized them really badly." Naruto explained

"I suggest you stay away from them, since we're kind of their enemies, and since you're my friend, they're going to think that you're their enemy too. Plus, their fangirls will stampede you and glare at you with these evil demon eyes, and you'll wish that you never got near those bastards in the first place." Naruto continued, getting more agitated by the second. By then, he was speaking loud enough for the students to hear him. The brunette looked embarrassed, and was clapping a hand to his forehead, while a small group, including Sasuke, looked rather amused and smug.

Sasuke, when Gaara observed him more, was actually quite handsome. He had a very angular face with dark eyes, and a natural smirk that probably had all the girls screaming. His hair was ridiculous, and looked a lot like a duck butt from the back, but the look suited him surprisingly. He was tall and imposing, and definitely well built.

Beside him was Shino, who was mostly covered up with a giant collared jacket. Only the upper half o his face was exposed, and his eyes were covered with dark, round sunglasses. His hair had a rather wild and wiry 'Albert Einstein' look to it, and stuck out a bit like an afro. He seemed like one of those people who was pretty laid back and calm, and preferred solitude. Gaara could see why the young man enjoyed the company of bugs over the loud companionship of humans. However, it was the one next to Sasuke who caught Gaara's attention.

He had a very uppity look to him, as if he was commanding everyone around him to kneel before him. He had long brown hair tied in a low pony tail, and the most beautiful eyes Gaara had ever seen. They were a light shade of lavender, which was a very light and ethereal color to Gaara, who was an artist. The long dark hair, and light eyes were emphasized by the teen's pale skin and graceful face structure. He was tall and lean, and stood in a way that suggested that he was above everyone else. The teen smirked when he noticed Gaara looking at him. Shukaku snarled in anger. Gaara blinked slowly, face devoid of emotion, and turned back to Naruto, who was still ranting loudly. To salvage what little dignity Naruto had left, Gaara nudged Naruto with his foot, and raised a finger to his lips in the universal 'quiet' sign when the blond looked at him in confusion. Realizing that he had an audience, the blond blushed, and quieted down. Mumbling an apology to Gaara, Naruto then glared at the students in an effort to keep them from eavesdropping, before resuming the conversation in a much more quiet tone of voice.

"Ne, Gaara," Naruto asked curiously. "Are you really mute? I mean: were you born mute, or do you choose not to talk, or…" He trailed off, looking at Gaara expectantly. Gaara paused as he processed the question.

**Don't tell the fox brat anything, Gaki; he'll just be a nuisance. **

Gaara ignored Shukaku, as he always did.

**Oi! I'm talking to you, Gaki! Don't ignore me!**

Gaara shut the voice away to the back of his head. He shrugged his shoulders in answer to the question. Naruto frowned slightly, but let go of the topic. Gaara had the feeling that Naruto understood that Gaara didn't wish to talk about it. It was almost as if Naruto was reading Gaara, which was impossible since they had only just met. But then again, they were linked with the Tailed Beasts, and Gaara felt as if he had known Naruto his whole life, which wasn't true since Gaara had the feeling that he would have turned out different if he had Naruto has his friend. The only two people he considered to be close and trustworthy were Temari and Kankuro, his brother and sister.

A bell rang, jolting Gaara from his thoughts, and Naruto nudged his shoulder.

"English is over; we're moving to Science now. It's a good thing that we have bells, or Kakashi-sensei would forget when we're supposed to move to the next class. C'mon." The blond led Gaara over to the brunette, Kiba, before the three headed to the door. Carefully keeping his distance from Gaara, Kiba grinned widely at Gaara. He had two red tattoos on his cheeks, each in the shape of a fang. His teeth were rather sharp for a human, though it looked fine on Kiba.

"Hey! I'm Kiba Inuzuka. I'm sure Naruto told you a bit about me. I get that you're scared of touch and stuff, so I'll try to respect your space, but I can't speak for Akamaru." He said smiling at Gaara. At his unspoken question, Naruto answered.

"Akamaru's Kiba's dog. He's absolutely huge, so Kiba isn't allowed to take him to class. Akamaru's been trained to walk around the school grounds and not get in the way, and whenever it's free time, he comes and meets us." Naruto said. Gaara blinked and nodded. He was fine with animals, so long as they didn't try to tackle him and lick his face off. Sensing Gaara's answer, Naruto nodded at Kiba.

"He's fine with it. It's just human touch, and stuff." He said. Kiba laughed.

"Great!" He said. Suddenly, Gaara detected something moving towards him. Instinctively shying away, he found himself backing away from the group of three students: Sasuke and his friends. Naruto, noticing his friend's sudden withdrawal, turned and glared at the three students. Kiba stopped smiling, and drew up next to Naruto, glaring with equal force at the other teens.

"Teme." Naruto said icily. "What do you want?" The dark haired boy smirked.

"We just wanted to welcome the new student, Dobe. There's no need to be so mean." Sasuke said. Naruto scowled, his hands balling up into fists.

"Well Gaara doesn't want you to welcome him. He doesn't like you, Teme." He spat back. The brown haired teen, probably Neji Hyuga, stepped forwards.

"Why don't we let Gaara speak for himself? With you saying everything for him, I'm sure that he can't really express himself." He said silkily. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Gaara's mute. He doesn't talk. So back the fuck off, Hyuga." He hissed. Neji stepped back, surprise on his face, before it was quickly masked with his usual look of arrogance.

"Is that so?" He looked at Gaara, who looked back impassively.

"How do the teachers expect us to interact with him? He must have some ways of communicating." He pointed out. Kiba frowned.

"Well maybe Gaara doesn't want to talk to you. We're all going to be late for classes. I think that you should just back off and leave Gaara be." He said. Shino nodded.

"I agree with Kiba; if Gaara so wishes to speak with us, he can. We simply wanted to say hello. Neji, Sasuke, we should get going. Class starts soon." He said quietly. Kiba bristled.

"Stop agreeing with me." He snarled. Shino didn't answer, but instead turned around and left the room. Neji and Sasuke followed. Before he left, however, Neji turned and smirked at Gaara.

"I'll see you around, Gaara." He said sweetly, before walking off. Gaara twitched slightly, but remained calm. Stupid Hyuga.

* * *

**And it's done!**

**I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter a lot :)**

**There was some action in this story; the story is picking up, and there will eventually be more Neji and Gaara meetings. I hope that you like my portrayal of the characters so far.**

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAARA! (I used his actual birthday from the anime/manga in this story, so as you can see, January 19 is Gaara's birthday)**

**I had to scramble to finish this in time, so it's a bit sloppy at the end, and it ends kinda abruptly, but I tried my best.**

**The next chapter will be up before the end of January (hopefully)**

**Please review or ask any questions so that I get motivated to write the next chapter :)**

SUPER IMPORTANT NOTE:

As referenced in the story, 'that power' that Gaara has is still being developed in my mind. I wanted to use the ability to manipulate sand, and the Ultimate Defense and all that, but I think that this would make the fic more supernatural than I planned, which I don't want. Therefore, I'm thinking of either giving Gaara really tough skin (like the armor of sand), or a special 6th sense that reacts in times of danger, and actives Gaara's more instinctual side, allowing him to instantaneously react to any threat far quicker than he usually would. Though, of course, it has some drawbacks, since Gaara can be overwhelmed with very powerful or quick attacks (like his Ultimate Defense.) I also want to give Gaara some connection to sand (As seen in the jar of sand that he owns) but I don't know how. If you have any ideas, or wish to vote on the ideas that I have already, please PM or review and tell me what you think.

EDIT (1/21/14): waywardgal pointed out some errors in this chapter, which I have edited to fit Gaara's character a bit more. I apologize for the inconvenience; I had a different character outline for Gaara in this story, and forgot to update it when I altered the story plot. Needless to say, Gaara was originally just a very antisocial mute with multiple (as in more than just one) personalities. Anyways, I hope that the edits make more sense.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, everyone!**

**Cheers for all the reviews, favorites, and follows; your support means a lot to me :)**

**Special thanks to KrazynKuki for helping me sort out a few things, and Secret Keeper and Nuke Tremor for his/her input on Gaara's abilities.**

**Also, to waywardgal, I went back to my story and realized that I'd forgotten to edit my outline. Originally, Gaara wasn't supposed to be Haphephobic, and he had other personalities besides Shukaku (I figured that with all the changes from young, cheerful boy to killer teen to helpful older teen, I would be justified in characterizing Gaara with more personalities.) I later on changed his character in the first chapter outline, and forgot to go through the other chapters and edit those. My apologies for the mistakes. In answer to your thoughts about my writing style, it's true that Chapter 3 did not have angst, and I agree that it's completely different from the previous chapters, but that's because Chapter 3 was more of an introduction to Naruto and happiness and school life, whereas Chapters 1 and 2 are more of an introduction to Gaara, who has had a very morbid and angsty past. As the plot starts to thicken and the story goes along, I assure you that there will be angst, and lots of it.**

**More apologies for the long wait; I just had midterms, and had to study during the times that I set aside for writing this story. **

**Disclaimer**

Gaara was confused. He had heard that Oni Konoha was a very strict military based school, but from what he had seen, it was more of a way to keep crazed teens slightly entertained. After the horrifying Science class (the teacher was completely insane, and ate w_ay _too much dango for even someone with an addiction), Gaara and Naruto had left quickly to escape the many curious gazes from the students. Naruto had told Gaara that the reason the students were so curious was because there hadn't been a new student in a couple of years, when the Rookie classroom was created.

"It's also," Naruto had added, "Because I don't really have that many friends. Being the enemy of Teme means that I'm really unpopular, so everyone takes notice whenever I make a new friend."

As he walked down the halls, Gaara couldn't help but compare the chatting students to the bleak, solemn stereotype he had before coming here. Sure, some of the students were eccentric, and some of them had gotten into a full out brawl in the hallway, but the guards and teachers were always there to break them up. Naruto had pointed out a few people to stay clear of, particularly a group of five people.

Naruto had called them the 'Sound Five.' Apparently, the term 'Sound' was used to describe students in Oni Konoha who were, in effect, evil.

"It's not like the rest of us aren't all corrupted and all," Naruto had added, "but at least we don't try to harm people for fun."

There was a group of missing nin known as the 'Sound,' and was run by Orochimaru, one of the three Sannin, and therefore the former team mate of none other than Lady Tsunade. The reason that the term 'Sound' was used was because Orochimaru was a sick and twisted man who delighted in experimenting on innocent people without any care for anyone but himself. Bullies and people who would probably fit in with his group at Oni Konoha were dubbed 'Sound.' The 'Sound Five' were just the top bullies, and the most powerful of all of them.

"There's Jirobo Rakanken, who seems like the better one of the group, but is really just arrogant and mean. He's super strong though, and he can really easily tire you out. There's a saying that the more you fight him, the strong he gets, and the weaker you get. In essence, it's as if he's sucking away your energy, but in reality, you're just losing more energy than him since all he has to do is stand there like a stupid rock. He's almost impossible to move. If you have really good endurance, and strength, then you might be able to take him down." Naruto said while pointing out a large boy with an orange Mohawk on top of his head, and two more sticking out on either side. It was as if someone had shaved two lines on his head, separating the hair into three sections on his head. Naruto pointed at the next person beside him.

"That's Tayuya Mateki, the only girl in the 'Sound Five.' She's really mean and curses all the time, and she doesn't like to lose. She's really strong and has amazing endurance, but she prefers to fight long distance. She has this weird flute thing that she uses to influence the mind. It was made so that if it was played in a certain way, the wound waves would affect something in your ears, and upset your balance and take away some of your ability to think. If you can break her flute, then you pretty much have her as long as you can overcome her in a battle." Naruto said. Gaara looked at the girl. She had long pinkish hair with a tuft that stuck out between her eyes. She had on a black ski cap, and had a perpetual scowl on her face. The next person beside her was a tall boy with black hair tied up in a spiky pony tail. His arms moved at a rapid speed as he gestured animatedly while talking to Tayuya.

"That's Kidomaru Kumo-Nenkin; he thinks that all his battles are a game, and will play with his opponent until they literally collapse from exhaustion before delivering the final blow. He had really tough skin, and amazing sight; he can spot almost anything, so don't try doing any feints since he'll see through it. He has really good reflexes, and his arms are superfast; it's as if he has more than two. That makes him hard to fight unless you're fast enough to avoid an attack that seems as if he has six arms. He prefers long distance fighting, though, and he's one of the best archers here. His arrows are so fast, it's almost impossible to completely deflect them. I would just stay away from him if I were you." Naruto nodded towards two silver haired boys, who looked exactly alike.

"That's Sakon and Ukon Kisei-Kikai. They were born as one person, but were separated after a surgery. Ukon was the parasitic twin, so he's much weaker and tires out faster than Sakon, but they're both really dangerous. They only fight together, and have a really unique fighting style. Normally, Ukon, just attaches himself to Sakon, and they fight as one person, which is super creepy. Sakon is really arrogant, so he likes using really complicated techniques, but Ukon is more impatient, so if Sakon starts drawing out the battle so that he can show off, Ukon will just end it. They're the second fastest and strongest of the group, so I'd watch out for them. If you can separate them, get rid of Ukon first, and then Sakon." Naruto pointed at the last person in the group of five. He was a tall, sickly looking boy with white hair and two red dots on his forehead. The bottom lids of his eyes were also lined with red, making him look even paler.

"That's Kimimaro Kaguya, the strongest person in the 'Sound Five.' He used to be super humanly strong, but he has some sort of sickness that makes him weaker. He's still really strong; almost no one can beat him when it comes to fighting, but he isn't as strong as he used to be. He's kinda quiet, and honorable, and he doesn't like fighting, but he doesn't like weak opponents, so he'll go after someone who's weak to 'rid the world of trash,' as he puts it. He's really emotionless too, and he can be a down right bastard. He has an obsession with bones, which probably comes from the fact that he has a weird bone structure. He has more bones in his body than a normal human, so he had a surgery to remove a few of the extra ones, and now uses them as weapons. It's almost impossible to break his bones, and he has a high healing rate; almost as good as mine. You don't want to fight him. He's strong enough to fight all of the rest of the 'Sound Five' and come out victorious, so my suggestion is that you keep away from him." Naruto said solemnly. Gaara nodded slightly, and tucked the information away for further analysis later on.

Naruto led Gaara outside to where a group of students were milling about.

"This is the gym.'" Naruto said. "There wasn't enough funding to construct one, since Tsunade ba-chan used it all up to buy sake, so we just do all of our fighting and training outside. It sucks whenever it rains, or snows, but that's just part of the conditioning." He said with a sigh. Gaara nodded in understanding. He noticed that there was a marked out area surrounded by a net, which had not been there last night. That was most likely the fighting ring. Caught up in his thoughts, Gaara didn't notice a certain Hyuga walk up to him.

"How do you like the school so far?" The teen asked from behind the redhead. Whirling around in surprise, Gaara stumbled backwards in fear. Never before had anyone managed to get this close to him without him noticing; not even Naruto, or his siblings. His skin prickled with cold sweat as he wondered if anyone else could get this close to him. It was Deidara all over again. However, realizing that it was only the Hyuga who had snuck up on him, Gaara quickly pasted on a look of indifference, and, glaring at the amused Hyuga, turned around and walked off to join Naruto, who was a couple yards away talking with Kiba.

At least, Gaara was_ going_ to walk away if he hadn't sensed what appeared to be a man wearing a green jumpsuit barreling right towards. Too stunned to move, the teen was almost run over until someone snagged a hold of the green jumpsuit, and restrained the man. Looking to the side, Gaara realized that it was Kakashi who had done so, and mentally thanked fate for intervening in what would have been a horrible messy demise. Death by angry redhead was never the way to go.

"Hold on a minute, Gai," Kakashi said as he forcefully dragged the giant green monster away. "I sure that you've already read Gaara's file, and it specifically says that he doesn't like it when people touch him." He said pleasantly. The green monstrosity frowned.

"B-but touch is what generates the power of youth! How does one learn passion and love if there is no contact involved?" He shouted at a booming decibel. Gaara winced slightly, and the students gathered around, taking interest in the situation. Somehow, the green suited man got free of Kakashi, and pranced over to Gaara.

"Gaara, my youthful friend," He shouted joyfully, "I shall teach you the joys and wonders of the human touch!" He grinned enthusiastically, nearly blinding Gaara with his white teeth. The redhead winced and stumbled backwards. Damnit; what was with these people and their unwanted advances? Senseing movement coming towards him, Gaara managed to open his eyes in time to see the man lunge forwards. Gaara's eyes darkened as he dodged out of the way. He miscalculated the speed of the other person however, and was a bit too slow in skipping backwards. The man's arms clipped his shoulder, and Gaara stiffened. He fell backwards, his shoulder burning from the unwanted touch.

Unlike with Naruto, who made Gaara feel comfortable with human touch, even if he was Haphephobic, Gaara was acutely aware of the distance between him and everyone else, and if any of them so much as twitched in his direction, he made sure to take steps that would keep him at the farthest distance from anyone around him. Call it a sixth sense, but somehow Gaara had managed to tune his body into automatically reacting whenever someone got too close. At least, that's what he thought. Normally, even if he was deep in thought, his body would go on auto pilot and made sure to keep a very large distance between him and everyone else. However, with that incident with the Hyuga, Gaara was starting to doubt that this ability was fool proof. Especially when he hadn't been able to dodge the instructor's 'welcoming hug.'

The sixth sense didn't just keep Gaara at a safe distance from everyone (except for Naruto, who was familiar enough to be allowed to bypass Gaara's personal defense), but it also physically made Gaara faster, stronger, and more alert. In short, it heightened his instincts to the point where he could dodge and avoid things that he wouldn't have been able to do normally. Gaara had a theory that because Shukaku had emerged in him at so young an age (the Tailed Beasts usually started showing signs of existence around the ages of 8 and above, whereas Gaara had shown from before he even turned the age of six) his identity was more tightly bonded with Shukaku's identity, and his sixth sense simply strengthened the pathway between the two identities, allowing Gaara to gain some of Shukaku's more instinctive, animalistic characteristics. Shukaku wasn't Haphephobic either, so in times of great, great, great need, Gaara could even fight in hand to hand combat without feeling fear, which he had done once in the past. He never wanted to do that again.

The sixth sense wasn't something that allowed Gaara to fight back, per say; it was more of a defense mechanism in which Gaara could flee, or dodge and avoid attacks without feeling the paralyzing fear that made him too scared to move. The sixth sense was so strong that even if he miscalculated how much time he had to dodge the 'attack,' Gaara knew that he should have been able to avoid that touch from the instructor if his special ability had done what it was supposed to do. But it hadn't. And that scared him a lot.

**Oi Gaki! **

Gaara tensed at the sound inside of his head. His hand came up to grab his right shoulder, which was tingling from the brief contact when the instructor's arm grazed it. It wasn't a light, rather pleasant tingle, when Naruto was near him, nor was it a very violent, 'my skin has been burned with acid' kind of tingle. It was a very unpleasant kind of tingle, the way one would react if they heard someone scratch their nails on a chalk board a couple hundred times. It made Gaara's hair stand on end, and his skin crawl.

Hunching over instinctively, Gaara instantly became aware of how many people were around him. It wasn't that he hadn't been aware in the beginning; it was just that he was now _intensely_ aware of it. Sweat dripped down the back of his neck, which was strange since the cool weather of Oni Konoha was practically an ice cube compared to Suna. Gaara was wrenched from his thoughts as the man, who had fallen to the ground after his attempted 'attack' on Gaara, instantly popped up. He felt slightly relieved to find that his sixth sense was still working somewhat.

"Wonderful, Gaara! Simply wonderful!" The man ranted happily. "Practically no one has managed to escape from my Nice Guy attack!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "I applaud you for you amazing abilities of youth!" He cried. Then, noticing that Gaara hadn't even acknowledged him, he leaned down and thrust a hand out, causing Gaara to recoil. The green suited man did not seem to notice Gaara's discomfort as he leant in, obviously expecting the younger boy to give him his hand.

Gaara couldn't move. His eyes were riveted on the hand, mere inches from his face, and still descending even closer. His body was tensed, coiled like a spring, ready to propel him backwards, away from this unwanted human touch. But for some reason, no matter how much he screamed at his legs and arms to move, he didn't. He was frozen. A sitting duck. Just like last time.

His eyes rose to the face who offered the hand, and blue eyes flashed in his mind. He jerked, jack knifing to his feet (finally), and scrambled backwards, uncaring of the fact that there were more people behind him. His mind had gone blank. He sensed rather than saw something behind him, causing him to spin around in terror, and come face to face with none other than Naruto.

Against his wishes, he relaxed a little. It was only Naruto. At first, he had blindly thought that it was someone else, with blond hair and blue eyes, and his body had almost struck out. Thank kami that he realized the person behind him was a friend, or else something bad would have happened.

"Gaara, you ok?" Naruto asked anxiously, after making sure that his friend would not attack him out of blind fear. The redhead hesitated and glanced around the clearing. The students were watching him curiously, most of them amused, some of them even laughing. Kakashi was looking at them from afar, gray eye as serious as the time when Naruto had thrown his arm around Gaara. His hand was coiled around a kunai, but he placed it back into his pack when he met Gaara's eyes.

The man who touched Gaara was shouting a multitude of things, but didn't seem to be getting closer, which led Gaara to believe that he was being restrained. Turning around, Gaara found himself correct. Kiba, a tall girl with two buns on her head, and… was that _Neji Hyuga_ holding the green suited instructor back? Gaara masked his surprise, though he was quite shocked to see what appeared to be the arrogant, princely Hyuga grappling with his instructor, and looking quite disgruntled at his hair being messed up.

Kakashi came up beside the three students, who, despite all their best efforts, could barely restrain the raging green beast, who was still wailing about 'youth,' and 'touch,' and whatnot. Gaara idly wondered if the man truly was an agent of the Fire Squad, or if he was a joke. Naruto stood beside Gaara, close enough to where Gaara could see him in his peripheral vision, but far enough so that Gaara's skin didn't tingle with the proximity of their bodies.

**Gaki.**

Gaara blinked and mentally cocked his head in question.

**That was pathetic. **

Shukaku growled. Gaara considered the words, disagreed, and decided to ignore the insult. Shukaku, sensing that his host didn't seem bothered by his words, wrestled with Gaara's conscience to gain more attention.

**I mean it, Gaki. What kind of Jinchuriki freaks out when someone ****_touches_**** them? And you didn't even try and stop him either. Honestly, Gaki, if you hadn't met that Deidara boy, you would be dirt in my eyes.**

Gaara tuned out, having heard these jabs ever since he developed Haphephobia. Still, he tensed slightly at the mention of Deidara, mind drifting to memories that he _did not want to see ever ever ever again._ Detecting his friend's consternation, Naruto looked over at Gaara, hand twitching as if he wanted to help, somehow.

"You… alright?" He repeated again. Gaara nodded slightly, before his gaze flashed over the entertained and smiling crowd of students. It didn't sting as much as it used to, though Naruto was obviously annoyed with how people were laughing at his friend. He opened his mouth to shout something vaguely insulting and rude, but Gaara, catching Naruto's attention by turning towards him, shook his head slightly side to side, and Naruto acquiesced to his friend, though reluctantly.

"You gotta let me do s_omething_ about this, Gaara! They're being so mean by laughing at you, and they don't even know that you're Haphephobic!" He said angrily. Kiba jogged up to them, panting, just as angry as Naruto.

"Sorry I took so long." He apologized, wincing as he massaged his upper arm. "Gai-sensei packs a punch. Thank kami that Kakashi-sensei was there, or else Hyuga, Tenten, and I would still be over there trying to stop him." Kiba jerked his head to the right, where the instructor, Gai, was talking in hushed tones with Kakashi. Gaara noted how changed his demeanor was; now he was serious and calm, displaying the persona of one who was a high ranking officer in one of the Five Nation Squads.

Gaara's gaze strayed to the left a little, and saw the girl with buns, Tenten as Kiba had said, the Hyuga, and the green jumpsuited boy from English. He speculated on whether or not the green suited boy, who seemed to be a rather frightening copy of the instructor, was twins with Gai. The boy pumped his fist in the air, and Gaara heard what sounded a lot like 'youth' and a bunch of other drivel that the instructor had spouted. He decisively decided that the two had to be very close.

The Hyuga looked up from where he was patting down his hair (which really wasn't even that messed up; how he managed to keep his hair silky and straight and untangled was a mystery to Gaara) and met Gaara's gaze. He raised an eyebrow, but Gaara turned away. He had the feeling that if he looked at the Hyuga too long, the long haired boy would get the wrong idea. Besides, Gaara didn't like guys with long hair. They reminded him too much of… someone else.

His skin was still clammy and stiff feeling, his heart still beating far too fast for his liking. He would have scowled if he could. Something coiled in his stomach, and Gaara tensed, looking out towards the school. Genma stood on the steps to the entrance, leaning against the door frame. They met eyes. Genma nodded.

"Gaara?" Naruto asked worriedly. Kiba anxiously bounced on his feet. Gaara shook his head at Naruto, and twitched his lips upwards in an approximation of a quick, assuring smile, dispelling the blonde's worries. Gaara glanced back at the entrance, then at the students, who had lost interest in him, and were now talking with friends and sparring with each other. Gaara tilted his head at the school, before looking at Gai and Kakashi. Naruto, catching his unspoken question, nodded.

"Go ahead. I'll tell Kakashi-sensei that you went to the bathroom." He said. Gaara nodded his head slightly, and headed towards the school entrance. Genma pushed himself off of the wall, and headed into the entrance. Gaara followed. As he was entering the building, Gaara hesitated for a moment. Turning his head to the side slightly, he caught sight of lavender colored eyes, assessing him from behind.

Aquamarine eyes clashed with the silvery eyes. They stared at each other, neither backing down. Then, the Hyuga smirked, and turned away. Gaara continued to stare at the Hyuga for a few more seconds, before he turned away too. Looking forwards, Gaara realized that Genma had been watching the brief meeting of eyes. The guard looked pensively at Gaara, before flicking his toothpick, and turning around, leading Gaara down the empty hallway.

"Be careful kid." He remarked. "That Hyuga's more dangerous than he looks."

And Gaara could only agree.

* * *

**Gaara's so fucking hard to write T-T**

**Like, seriously. You have no idea how difficult it is to capture his impassive, but still broody and violent personality. **

**Neji's hard to write too, 'cause I like characterizing him as a cocky bastard, who's completely infuriating and an asshole. But, then again, that's not really what he's like in the manga/anime. He's really just a cold, arrogant asshole who had great control of his emotions, and used to be condescending to everyone else. So I can't have him gallivanting around, teasing poor Gaara, no matter how adorable that is.**

**Anyways, I hope you guys like this next chapter, and the next one will be up soon, hopefully. **


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm so sorry for the long wait! I got a concussion from soccer, and I was unable to touch my computer much less walk around for about three days. And then, I had to catch up with school work, and all the damn projects teachers love to assign, so I couldn't start on this chapter until Saturday. My head still kinda hurts, and I'm having some coordination issues, but I'm pretty much fine. I hope that this update makes you guys happy.**

**Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed, and reviewed!**

**In answer to Secret Keeper's questions, Gaara does not really stress about people since his sixth sense keeps him as far as possible from them. He also takes pains to stay away from crowds, and while he is scared if people come really close to him, Haphephobia doesn't affect him to the extent where he freaks out if he so much as sees another person. In effect, Gaara's case of Haphephobia isn't as extreme as you're describing it. It simply hinders his ability to get close to other people (literally and figuratively), and makes him more suspicious and jumpy around others. I'm not going to spoil anything about Deidara, but I will tell you that I didn't stay completely true to the plotline of the anime/manga for Gaara's past. Deidara will enter into the story at some later point in time, after a very, ah, ****_special_**** event happens to Gaara.**

**That's all I'm going to say for now. :)**

**Anyways, let's get on to the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer**

* * *

In his mind, he was in a desert.

He felt the sand scraping along the bare soles of his feet, burning into his skin like an iron brand. The wind streamed around his still form, tracing his features, chiseling out his body with air born sand. He did not move. He did not want to move, and even if he did, he would not have been able to move. He looked around impassively, watching the smudged horizon, a length of sand blurred with the dusty sky.

Eventually, he became aware of something above him, shadowing him from the hot sun. He looked up. A giant cage hung like a pendulum above him. As he watched, the cage lowered itself, somehow maneuvering around so that it landed right in front of him. There was something inside. It was large and hulking, golden eyes glittering with hate and fury. He tilted his head. The beast bared its teeth at him, spewing forth sand with a wave of its paw.

**Gaki.**

It snarled.

He did not answer. Dr. Chiyo had told him to come right back when he made contact with _the voice. _Finally, after long hours of meditation and training, he had managed to meet his altar, his second personality. Father would be proud of him. Turning around to return back to the real world, he ignored the volatile monster.

**They'll betray you.**

It growled.

He paused. Then, he kept on walking, shutting out the angry screeches of the beast. Dr. Chiyo had said that he wasn't to speak with it. She said that he would be… he would be _in-flu-enced_ by it. Whatever that meant. His second personality let out an ear-splitting scream, and threw itself against the cage bars, but he had already pulled himself free from this mindscape. He did not think once about the noise.

Opening his eyes, the boy found himself back in Dr. Chiyo's office. The short woman leaned forwards anxiously, a hopeful smile on her wrinkled face.

"Well, Gaara?" She asked eagerly. He nodded.

"Ah." She smiled at his short answer, interpreting it to be a 'yes.'

"Very good, Gaara. I'm pleased with your progress. How about we go to Yashamaru and have a little celebration?" She asked. Gaara looked at her white robes, and the clipboard with 'grown up information,' and the black cameras aimed at him, recording everything he did, and he felt a twinge in the back of his mind.

_They'll betray you._

He hesitated. But as he looked at her smiling face, he couldn't bring himself to believe that she, his own doctor, who always told him that she was proud of him, and that he was a nice kid, and that she didn't blame him for having a voice, would betray him. Yashamaru wouldn't hurt him either, right?

Gaara looked on her smiling face, and smiled back.

"Ah."

The security camera continued to record long after the two had left the office.

* * *

The room was dark, shadows shrouding the enclosed space in murky gloom. Outside, the wind howled loudly, blowing gritty dust into the night sky. He ignored it, focusing on entering his mindscape again. Dr. Chiyo had been so happy when he showed her that he could enter his mindscape easily now. He slipped into his conscience, and let himself be drawn into the dark recesses of his mind. Eventually, the back of his eyelids faded into the desert sand, shifting beneath his feet. This time, he wore shoes.

**Back again, Gaki?**

The cynical voice hardly fazed him. He blinked, unimpressed with the beast's attitude, and waited patiently for the entity to settle down. It scratched at the cage, sending metal flakes into the air, swallowed up by the sand. The bars had become ridden with scratch and bite marks, but had held. Dr. Chiyo had been worried when he told her about this, but had linked the cage to the amount of his happiness and will, so she simply told him to stay near Yashamaru and to avoid the other children, even the girl with yellow hair, and the boy with the odd purple stripes.

She had been right, of course, and with a simple flick of his finger, the bars repaired themselves, strengthening by his command. The beast roared at this, but was unable to mark the bars anymore.

**Why have you come back, again?**

It demanded, hostilely circling around the cramped space of its cage. Gaara didn't answer.

**You still don't listen to me, do you, Gaki?**

Shukaku criticized, leering at Gaara with a wicked gleam in its eyes.

**You don't think twice about what they tell you to do; if they told you to go jump off the roof, I'm sure that you'd do it, no questions asked.**

He sniffed. Gaara pretended that he hadn't heard a word it had said. The monster grinned.

**You can't hide anything from me, Gaki. I'm still a part of you, as much as it pains me to say it. Everything you see, I see. Everything you hear, I hear. Everything you think, I know. **

Shukaku smiled again, all sharp teeth, and hungry eyes.

**The only thing is that you're too blind to see what I can see. They'll betray you, Gaki, just like everyone else in this pathetic world. They'll leave you alone, and watch you fall with smiles on their faces, and you'll die with a knife in your back because you trusted the very people who've always hated you.**

Gaara clenched his fist. Dr. Chiyo had told him that the monster might try this. She said that it would influence him (he was proud to say that he knew what it meant now) and tell him things that weren't true. She said that he needed to get used to it, so that he could ignore the monster, and shut it away from the world. She said that he was very special, and that he had been chosen out of everyone to guard this demon, and protect everyone. She said that he would be tested, and everyone would be mean to him, but if he did the right thing, they would love him just like Yashamaru and Father.

Because Father loved him.

**You really believe that, Gaki? That the man who sired you actually c****_ares_**** about you? How stupid are you, Gaki?**

Gaara looked away from the laughing demon, pretending that he hadn't seen the bars bend under the force of the monster's paws. _They won't betray me._

_They won't._

The demon sneered at him.

**How weak can you get, Gaki? You already know that they'll betray you; you simply refuse to believe it. Your heart is weak. Your mind is weak. Begone.**

The sands whirled and Gaara was shoved from his mindscape back into the real world. His heart was pounding. His clenched fists were gummy with sweat, and he could feel his skin dampen with perspiration.

The beast had never been able to push him away before.

Outside, the wind blew, and the sand filled sky blotted out the starts, covering the village in a giant shadow.

Gaara did not sleep that night.

* * *

There was someone here. Someone who smelled like sweat and metal and the earthy, warm scent of wet earth. Someone who was dead.

He was sobbing, tears spilling down his face, staining the ground with wet droplets. It was night. There was smoke and blood and sand filling his nostrils, and all around him the air was thick and heavy and suffocating. His ears rang, filled with noise. There was so much noise. Screaming. Clawing. Breathing. The gasping, raspy breaths of air that echoed in the silence.

His head hurt.

He wanted it to stop. He wanted to scream and rip and tear at his ears and force it to go away. He wanted to gouge out the pain, to rip free from his frame and throw it far away from him so that he would never feel this again.

"Y-Yashamaru?" He didn't recognize the voice that rang out in the still, tense air. His breath scraped against his throat, his voice hoarse and scratchy. He looked around. There was nothing.

He was alone.

He heard laughter.

**I told you that they'd betray you, didn't I, Gaki?**

* * *

Gaara lay on his back in his room. He wasn't tired, nor was he hungry though he had been confined to his room during lunch time and hadn't had any breakfast, but that didn't really surprise him. Back in Suna, there really wasn't much food or water to be found, so the food and drink were carefully conserved and rationed. Higher ups had more food compared to the poorer families, which was despicable since Gaara had witnessed just how corrupted some of the nobles in Suna were. Some of them even bribed the poor for their food share in exchange for a couple of coins, or a less raggedy set of clothing.

And, of course, Gaara's father had never considered Gaara to be even close to the equivalent of a noble, and hadn't really been generous with his food offerings. In fact, his father had deliberately starved him, hoping to weaken his body so that the guards could restrain him if Shukaku took control. He'd had a tough time keeping Dr. Chiyo from figuring out that he hadn't been locking himself up in his room by choice. Temari and Kankuro had tried to save some food for Gaara when they were younger, but all in all, his appetite and stomach shrunk. It wasn't healthy, but at least Gaara knew that he could survive quite some time without food or water, as morbid as it sounded.

After years of malnourishment, Gaara's metabolism had slowed down in order to accommodate his lack of eating, and helped keep his body from deteriorating too badly. Unlike those with eating disorders, who, after having a relatively normal diet, began starving themselves later on in their lives, Gaara's body had known only one diet since birth, and had therefore adapted early on to his eating style. He did not force himself to eat, nor did he force himself to not eat. He simply ate when he was hungry, and did not eat when he wasn't. Even so, Gaara was very thin and underweight for his age.

He avoided stressful and energy consuming activities in order to conserve what little nutrients he had consumed, and, in the rare event that he was hungry, he ate, which was probably about four or five times a week. It wasn't very much, but with his very slow metabolism, and multiple nutrient-packed pills, which he took because he acknowledged his very unnatural diet and low weight, he could deal. Gaara knew that he was putting a lot of strain on his body by not eating, and he knew that he was way too thin for someone his age, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

Tsunade had decided to figure out a way to get his stomach to accept larger quantities of food, and had therefore conducted a test in which she stuffed any food she could get her hands on down his throat, and then observed as he spent the next thirty minutes puking it all back up. Needless to say, if she hadn't been the great Lady Tsunade, who had enough strength to break bone with a single flick of her finger, Gaara would have refused pointblank to do any of her tests.

Though he had to say, she sure got sidetracked easily. One moment, she was lecturing him on controlling his phobia and ranting about how Gai was going to feel the power of _her_ youth later on, before taking one long look at him and realizing that he didn't really look all too healthy, what with the dark circles around his eyes, and lanky stature. And from there on out, she proceeded to take it upon herself to help Gaara get a normal appetite, and sleeping habits.

His stomach clenched, bringing Gaara out of his thoughts. He didn't wince, but he did place a hand on his stomach, as if that would hold in the pain. He was still feeling the effects of too much food. On the other hand, his shoulder had long since stopped burning, which he was thankful for. Sometimes, Gaara continuously felt the unpleasant tingle for weeks on end, and the feeling would renew itself whenever he thought about the person that had touched him. Other times, the feeling eventually faded in about an hour, and Gaara would no longer feel like he had just stabbed a knife into a toaster.

Usually, people that Gaara would not like, or did not like were the ones who affected him more aversely, as compared to those who were more bearable. That was perhaps another reason why Naruto was able to touch Gaara without him feeling any ill affects; Gaara feared touch from all people, but he feared touch from people who would clash with him even more so than people that he felt safe around, which was curious now that he thought about it. He had never really questioned his fear of touch, since there were many sensible reasons as to why he had developed it, but now, as he pressed his hand against his papery skin, feeling each rib contract with each breath he took, he wondered how deep the fear was.

He was comfortable with Dr. Haruno enough to the point where he felt only the slightest bit of unease if she touched his hand. He supposed that it had to do with the fact that she was probably the first person to ever show him kindness without any ulterior motives. Oh, sure, she was assigned to 'make him better,' and she was _supposed_ to be cordial and sweet to the patients, which would make them more open, but she was kind because it was in her nature, not simply because she had to follow the rules.

Not only that, but she had been perhaps the only person there who was _real._ She hadn't blathered on about how great the ward was, and how he was a troubled child, and how he was s_ick_ and _not himself_ and _diseased. _She had looked at him, and saw a boy who was not all that he seemed, and she had tried to figure him out. She hadn't labeled him right on sight, nor had she pinned him with eyes of hate and blame. She _wanted_ to help him, _wanted_ to know him. She had observed him enough to even communicate with him as easily as Naruto. Even if she was nosy, and somewhat annoying, at least she was there for him. And even if he had RAD, he at least felt that she was more than just a stranger to him.

Temari and Kankuro were difficult to place. He could not really define how he felt for them. Having RAD ensured that maintaining any type of relationship was very difficult, and more often than not, Gaara didn't even classify them as family. Family was a word that meant nothing to him. Bonds. Friendship. He would never truly experience these because of his disorder. That was not to say that he didn't care for Temari and Kankuro; he did trust and care for them to a certain degree, and they were probably the closest to him than anyone else. But still.

Gaara rolled onto his stomach, pressing his cheek against his pillow. He hated how he was unable to trust and care for people who trusted and cared for him enough that they took it upon themselves to help him, not out of necessity, but out of companionship, and tried _so hard_ to defend him and protect him and heal him when he was too far gone already. It made him feel sick, as if he was using and throwing away the very people who had never even once thought about abandoning him. Naruto, Gaara knew, would be the next person who would try and help him. Naruto would be the next person that Gaara would drag down with him into hell.

And damn it all, Gaara couldn't even muster enough guilt to so much as shed a tear for him because of his bastard father, who had ensured the fact that Gaara would never ever ever again have any close ties with anyone else. Ever.

Gaara pressed a hand to his eyelids, hot and enflamed beneath his palm. He did not cry. He could not cry. Even now he was hyperly aware of the camera in his room, documenting his every movement, his every twitch and facial contortion. He breathed in slowly, lifting the hand from his face, and letting it drop to the mattress, before staring at the ceiling with an intensity that most would consider to be creepy and abnormal.

He wondered when Naruto would come, pounding down his door, demanding an explanation for his absence in the classes after lunch, and why he had left in the middle of fighting. It was surprising that he hadn't come during free period, but that was probably because he didn't know Gaara's room number yet. More likely than not, Naruto was probably going to go badger Genma or Lady Tsunade until they told him where Gaara was staying. Then, he would badger Gaara into tell him what happened between him and Genma. Gaara dreaded the thought of having to explain. He couldn't really communicate the fact that he sometimes went psycho and tried to kill people if they got too touchy feely with him, courtesy of Shukaku and the instinctual reflexes that he had honed after developing Haphephobia. But that was ok because Gaara didn't like communicating much, anyways. Sometimes, he mused, his disorders were actually helpful in a way, especially since his sixth ability had actually developed due to his fear and disorders.

Most people had animalistic instincts that showed themselves in times of great danger, but with Gaara, the habitual usage of these instincts to stay away from people, the fact that he had a more beast than man altar, and his bad childhood, had all brought out these instincts within him, and made him more alert of his surroundings. His natural instincts were stronger than most since he used them so often. He supposed that his special sixth sense was simply due to the fact that he had managed to improve his instincts to the point where he seemed to drastically improve his physical abilities within a matter of seconds.

Lady Tsunade had been looking into this, and had come to the same conclusion as he had. She was relieved that he didn't intentionally use triggers to bring Shukaku to the surface, and therefore increase his instability, though she had muttered angrily about how she had to find someone to teach him to control the sixth sense. He had learned after following Genma to her office that she had specifically assigned a group of high ranked guards to observe him at all times in order to restrain him if he _did_ let loose, which was why Genma had been watching him from the front of the building. She had also decided that if he froze up like he did during fighting class, the guards would take him to the infirmary, or to his room where he would be able to recover from the fear, which was why he was here in his room.

Tsunade had also decided to see whether or not she could get him to overcome his fear of touch, since, as she had pointed out, Oni Konoha not only gave the students education, it also helped them integrate back into society by medically aiding the students. There was a reason why she, known foremost for her amazing healing abilities, was sent to run this school.

After discovering, via Shizune, that Gaara had always had sleeping and eating problems, which escalated after the _incident_ that had sent him to the mental ward in the first place, Lady Tsunade had also decided to find out more about his disorders, and how he had come to develop them. She had noted the lack of information in his files, and had sent Shizune to write up a letter asking for any observations from the mental ward that Gaara had stayed at previous to Oni Konoha.

Then, she had sent Gaara to his room, and told him to try and rest a bit. She had told him that he was to come to dinner and eat a little, but he didn't have to go to his classes if he didn't feel up to it. As she spoke to him, Gaara couldn't shake the feeling that she knew personally how it was to develop a fear that hindered one from helping others. But then again, everyone here probably had one of those demons. Even Neji Hyuga.

Gaara turned on his side, staring aimlessly off into space. The Hyuga had nice eyes. They were captivating, an unnervingly pale shade of lavender. Gaara was sure that the Hyuga must be used to people asking if he was blind. Gaara himself had received many comments about his own eyes. People had unabashedly gaped at him, eyes flicking over his bright red hair, the dark bags under his eyes. They always looked away when he met their stares. It was funny how they could go from gaping idiot to embarrassed idiot in seconds.

But the Hyuga…

He met his eyes, and held the gaze. He looked into Gaara's eyes deliberately, and really, for the first time, Gaara realized that no one had ever done this before. Not even Temari or Kankuro or his Father. Not even… _him._ And to make matters worse, the Hyuga not only looked Gaara right in the face, he also had really distracting eyes as well. Gaara now understood how others felt when they looked at his exotic eye color.

Perhaps that was why Gaara was so interested in this Neji person. He was intriguing and bold and infuriating, though Gaara didn't really know why. Perhaps it was the way his eyes (Why was it always the eyes?) gleamed as he looked at Gaara, the way his words seemed to have a deeper meaning behind them.

And he was a genius.

But what did that have to do with anything?

Kami, Gaara didn't even _know_.

Unbeknownst to the redhead, his lips had started to twitch into a little frown, his brow wrinkling in consternation. He thought back to the words that Genma had said, and the knowing tone to his voice as he led Gaara down the hallway.

_Hyuga… What do you want from me?_

* * *

**End of Chapter**

**Oh gosh. This is probably the most boring chapter y'all have read. T-T**

**And you guys probably had your hopes up for some fighting and action.**

**Please don't throw a refrigerator at me. XD**

**Anyways, I think that I might start drawing a cover page and other artwork for this fic, but I'm not sure, so Review or PM me on your opinion. If any of you guys want to do fanart (even if you're 'artistically challenged,' as my friend says,) I'd be SOOOO fucking happy; you have no idea.**

**Next update may be a bit late since I'm still recovering from my concussion, but I'll try my hardest to get it up soon.**

**Reviews are highly motivational and your opinions help me make my next chapters better!**

**Question of the day (since I'm really insecure about this): should I include flashbacks and/or extra notes, such as Gaara's files, and mystery conversations?**


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